The Cabin Read Online Free PDF Page B

that
    said she wasn’t as intensely serious about this conclu-
    sion as her sister was.
    Jack shoved a hand through his hair. It was dark,
    more flecked with gray than it used to be, and not, he
    decided, just because he was forty. Life with three fe-
    males had taken its toll. When the girls headed off to col-
    lege, he was getting a dog. A big, ugly, mean, male dog.
    “Girls,” he said, “your mother and I have known each
    other since we were college students.”
    Ellen pounced. “Exactly! Dad, nobody likes to be
    taken for granted.”
    “What does that mean?”
    She groaned, shaking her head as if her father was
    the thickest man on the planet. She was in shorts and a
    rugby shirt, the bruises on her legs finally faded. The
    San Antonio sun had brought freckles out on her nose
    and cheeks, lightened her chestnut hair. As far as Jack
    knew, neither she nor Maggie had any long-term boy-
    friends. Fine with him. He was in no hurry to see guys
    “wooing” his daughters.
    Maggie folded a pair of old-man striped golf pants,
    circa 1975, one of her favorites. “Everyone wants to feel
    they’re special.”
    “This isn’t about blame,” Ellen said. “It’s not about

    The Cabin
    37
    who did what wrong. It’s about how you can take the
    bull by the horns and…and…”
    “Woo your mother back,” Jack supplied, deadpan.
    Ellen frowned up at him. “Yes.”
    Maggie sank back against the couch. “This isn’t a
    double standard. We’re not expecting you to take on the
    wooing because you’re a man, but because it’s so obvi-
    ously what Mom wants, and it’s so—Dad, come on. It’s
    so simple. ”
    Nothing involving Susanna Dunning Galway had
    ever been simple. Jack shook his head. “What kind of
    classes have you two been taking up in Boston?”
    Neither girl was backing down. Ellen said, “You
    were distracted in the weeks before we moved north.
    Remember? You had that police corruption case. You
    hate corruption cases, you didn’t want to talk about it,
    and I think it affected you more than you or Mom real-
    ized at the time.”
    Jack couldn’t believe he was having a conversation
    with his daughters about the ramifications of his work
    on his relationship with his wife. “I liked you two bet-
    ter when I could stick you in a playpen. My work and
    my family life are separate. There’s a fire wall be-
    tween them.”
    “There! You said it!” Ellen pointed at him in victory.
    “You keep a part of yourself walled off from Mom. You
    don’t talk to her.”
    Who was the one still pretending she wasn’t worth
    millions? He got to his feet. He should have ended this
    conversation the minute they’d said “woo.” It could go
    nowhere he wanted to go. He started for the kitchen.

    38
    Carla Neggers
    “Your mother knows the score with me and my work. I
    don’t need to tell her. She knows where she stands.”
    “Yeah,” Maggie said half under her breath, “she
    sure does.”
    His spine stiffened, but he decided to pretend he
    hadn’t heard that one, if only because he was putting his
    daughters on a plane in less than twenty-four hours.
    They’d be off on their own soon enough. They weren’t
    kids—they were young women. He couldn’t control
    their every word, thought and deed. Sometimes he
    wished he could. Like now.
    At least their instinct was to defend their mother.
    Even if he were willing to fall on his sword over the
    problems in their marriage, take the blame for her move
    to Boston, say everything was his fault, it wouldn’t
    solve anything. It was going to take a hell of a lot more
    than lavender sachets and fresh roses to repair what
    they’d had.
    He stormed out to the patio and kicked a chair. “A
    little goddamn honesty wouldn’t hurt.”
    And he knew where it would begin—with his wife,
    not himself.
    He could be stubborn, too.
    Wooing Susanna. Taking her for granted. What did
    that mean? Susanna was about as unsentimental and un-
    romantic as he was. What would she do if he